📚#WW2 Secret Agent Series. Rosie’s #BookReview Of The Shadow Network by Deborah Swift @swiftstory #TuesdayBookBlog

The Shadow Network by Deborah Swift
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Shadow Network is historical fiction set during World War Two.

This is the second book in the WW2 Secret Agent series, but it can easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone story.

Lilli Bergen is a refugee from Berlin. Her mother was Jewish, and Lilli escaped after her father was attacked and taken by the Brown Shirt Youth. She came to London, but was later rounded up with other women of German descent and sent to the Isle Of Man.

Lilli loved singing, and a previous short stint singing in a London club was noted on her records. Luckily, both her German heritage and her singing voice brought her to the attention of the Political Warfare Executives who were creating a radio station that would transmit false information to the German armies.

It is here that she reconnects with her student sweetheart, Irishman Bren. However, he now insists on being called Johnny and Lilli is very suspicious of the stories that he tells.

I really enjoyed the role of the radio network and the part it played in the war espionage campaign. Although this is a work of fiction, it is based on real events and was quite believable. I also liked the parts about Johnny; I often read war stories showing how British secret agents survived in Europe under the eyes of the enemy, so it was good to see the roles reversed on British soil.

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Book description:

One woman must sacrifice everything to uncover the truth in this enthralling historical novel, inspired by the true World War Two campaign Radio Aspidistra…

England, 1942: Having fled Germany after her father was captured by the Nazis, Lilli Bergen is desperate to do something pro-active for the Allies. So when she’s approached by the Political Warfare Executive, Lilli jumps at the chance. She’s recruited as a singer for a radio station broadcasting propaganda to German soldiers – a shadow network.

But Lilli’s world is flipped upside down when her ex-boyfriend, Bren Murphy, appears at her workplace; the very man she thinks betrayed her father to the Nazis. Lilli always thought Bren was a Nazi sympathiser – so what is he doing in England supposedly working against the Germans?

Lilli knows Bren is up to something, and must put aside a blossoming new relationship in order to discover the truth. Can Lilli expose him, before it’s too late?

Set in the fascinating world of wartime radio, don’t miss Book 2 in the WW2 Secret Agent Series, a heart-stopping novel of betrayal, treachery, and courage against the odds.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS (expected publication Feb 13th)

📚’A #WW2 story inspired by some of Britain’s prisoner of war camps’. Rosie’s #BookReview Of #HistFic Black Camp 21 by Bill Jones.

Black Camp 21 by Bill Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Black Camp 21 is a World War Two story inspired by some of Britain’s prisoner of war camps that were built to accommodate the thousands of German soldiers who were captured in the months after the D-Day landings.

This is the story of tank driver and SS Officer Max. After his capture he is shipped to England and taken to London where he and several other SS officers are interrogated. They are then sent to a large camp in Devizes, but are kept separate from other German groups. Feared even among their fellow soldiers, the SS are given black circles to denote them.

Max discovers that the security and fencing are lax in Devizes and he is part of a mass break-out plan. However, the British aren’t as blind to the planning of the operation as the Germans think.
Later Max is taken to Scotland along with some of the more dangerous prisoners. This camp is notorious for the internal discipline that the Germans meter out themselves on their fellow camp mates.

This was an unusual war story and the author’s notes describe the documented death of an inmate at Black Camp 21 that inspired the whole idea. The author had also visited the camp which, I believe, still has some remnants left today. It’s quite a dark tale with a few twists, but it sets a good pace and has enough tension and intrigue to keep the pages turning.

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Book Description:

All over Britain, POW camps are filling up with defeated German soldiers. Every day, thousands more pour in on ships from France. But only the most dangerous are sent to Camp 21 – ‘black’ prisoners – SS diehards who’ve sworn death before surrender. Nothing will stop their war, unless it’s a bullet.

As one fanatic plots a mass breakout and glorious march on London, Max Hartmann dreams of the oath he pledged to the teenage bride he scarcely knows and the child he’s never met. Where do his loyalties really lie? To Hitler or to the life he left behind in the bombed ruins of his homeland?

Beneath the wintry mountains, in the hell of Black Camp 21, suspicion and fear swirl around like the endless snow. And while the Reich crumbles – and his brutal companions plan their assault – Max’s toughest battle is only just beginning.

Inspired by terrifying actual events, Black Camp 21 takes readers on a gut-wrenching journey from the battlefields of France to its shocking climax in a camp which still stands today.

AmazonUk | AmazonUS

📚#HistoricalFiction And #WW2 Dual Timeline Story. Rosie’s #BookReview Of The Beekeeper’s Promise by @FionaValpy #TuesdayBookBlog

The Beekeeper’s Promise by Fiona Valpy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Beekeeper’s Promise is a dual time-line story based in France.

Chapters dot back and forth between Abi in 2017 and Eliane during the years of the Second World War. While Abi discovers the peace she needs after a cruel marriage, she learns of Eliane’s war story.

Eliane and her family played a part in the resistance during the time when Germany occupied France. She was a beekeeper and worked in a local Chateau both in the house and gardens. Her family ran the local mill and helped the resistance where they could.

This was quite a slow-paced story after the opening chapters, but it picked up once the war began. I became quite invested in Eliane’s story, even preferring her chapters to those of Abi. Although most of the story is fiction, the author did weave in the terrible events that took place in Tulle, near the end of the war which were quite harrowing to read about.

Overall, an enjoyable tale for those who like their war themed historical fiction.

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Heartbroken and hoping for a new start, Abi Howes takes a summer job in rural France at the Château Bellevue. The old château echoes with voices from the past, and soon Abi finds herself drawn to one remarkable woman’s story, a story that could change the course of her summer—and her life.

In 1938, Eliane Martin tends beehives in the garden of the beautiful Château Bellevue. In its shadow she meets Mathieu Dubosq and falls in love for the first time, daring to hope that a happy future awaits. But France’s eastern border is darkening under the clouds of war, and history has other plans for Eliane…

When she is separated from Mathieu in the chaos of German occupation, Eliane makes the dangerous decision to join the Resistance and fight for France’s liberty. But with no end to the war in sight, her loyalty to Mathieu is severely tested.

 

📚A World War Two espionage story. Rosie’s #Bookreview Of #WW2 The Silk Code by @swiftstory #TuesdayBookBlog #BookTwitter

The Silk Code: An utterly sweeping and heart-breaking WW2 historical fiction novel for 2023! by Deborah Swift
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Silk Code is a World War Two espionage story and features English agents sent to Holland.

Nancy leaves her Scottish home and a cheating fiancé to find work in London. She lodges with her brother and attends an interview for secretarial work. However, she discovers that the job is in the decoding department of the Special Operations Executive in Baker Street.

Tom Lockwood is on a mission to find new ways for secret agents in the field to send coded messages. He gets involved with the Dutch agents and is concerned that the Germans have infiltrated the Dutch Resistance.

Secrets, undercover activities and spying are central to this story, which takes place mainly in London and Holland and it is based on a true story of ‘Englandspiel’, a successful counterintelligence operation run by the Abwehr during the war. Nancy finds herself at the heart of finding the mole who is sending agents to their deaths.

I liked the Dutch setting and the problematic situation for the agents. The story tripped along at a good pace and there was plenty to keep me interested.

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Book description

Based on the true story of ‘Englandspiel’, one woman must race against the clock to uncover a traitor, even if it means losing the man she loves.

England, 1943:
Deciding to throw herself into war work, Nancy Callaghan joins the Special Operations Executive in Baker Street. There, she begins solving ‘indecipherables’ – scrambled messages from agents in the field.

Then Nancy meets Tom Lockwood, a quiet genius when it comes to coding. Together they come up with the idea of printing codes on silk, so agents can hide them in their clothing to avoid detection by the enemy. Nancy and Tom grow close, and soon she is hopelessly in love.

But there is a traitor in Baker Street, and suspicions turn towards Tom. When Nancy is asked to spy on Tom, she must make the ultimate sacrifice and complete a near-impossible mission. Could the man she loves be the enemy?

An utterly gripping and unputdownable WW2 historical fiction novel, perfect for fans of Ella Carey and Ellie Midwood!

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

📚World War Two #HistoricalFiction. Rosie’s #Bookreview Of Night Angels by @WeinaRandel #WW2

Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Night Angels is a World War Two historical fiction tale based on the real life of Dr. Ho, Consul General of the Chinese Embassy in Vienna.

The book begins in 1938; much of Dr. Ho’s work involves developing good international relations, as the Chinese are currently at war with Japan. The Chinese diplomats are keen to negotiate promises of weaponry from the Germans, but they are led on a long political dance.

Meanwhile Dr. Ho witnesses the horrors as Vienna’s Jewish community is terrorised; money and businesses stolen and the people forced to leave or are taken prisoner. Dr. Ho’s wife Grace was even arrested for sitting on a park bench. As tensions rise, Ho might not be able to stop the madness, but he can try to save lives; he begins issuing travel visas to China.

I had not heard of this aspect of the war and the complexities around travel visas was interesting to read about. My historical knowledge was also lacking about the war between China and Japan, I hadn’t realised that they were already fighting before Pearl Harbor. I’m glad that I read this and got a glimpse into the life of a humble diplomat who made a difference to thousands of lives.

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Book description

From the author of The Last Rose of Shanghai comes a profoundly moving novel based on the true story of a diplomat and his wife who risked their lives to help Viennese Jews escape the Nazis.

1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.

But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht, and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.

Based on a remarkable true story, Night Angels explores the risks brave souls took and the love and friendship they built and lost while fighting against incalculable evil.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS (Due for publication on Feb 1st)

‘Based on the real story of a #WW2 female sniper.’ Rosie’s #Bookreview Of The Diamond Eye by @KateQuinnAuthor #TuesdayBookBlog @HarperCollinsUK

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

5 stars

The Diamond Eye is a World War Two tale, based on the real story of a female sniper in the Russian army.

Teenage bride then single mother and history student, Mila signed up to fight for her family’s future as Germany invaded Russia’s borders.

This is a the story of just one of the many female heroines of war. Mila fought on the Eastern Front and her official sniper kill number was 309. This may have been higher; often kills weren’t verified in the chaos of war. The number could also have been lower as much of the history about Mila’s life came from a memoir written for propaganda purposes.  Part of that propaganda involved sending Mila along with other Russian students to America in 1942; their role was to help persuade the American President to commit to joining the war by providing a second front in Europe to divert Hitler’s attentions.

There’s an interesting format to the book; chapters pass back and forth between the fight in Russia and the student delegation in America. Dotted in between are notes from the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, who is said to have befriended Mila during her visit; they remained friends after the war. Often Mila’s chapters begin with an official line from her memoir and then her ‘real’ propaganda-free thoughts and memories of what happened.

I liked it. A lot. Quinn has an ability to make her characters come alive and the details of the settings and atmosphere took me to the heart of the battlefields and beyond as we followed Mila’s life. I always enjoy the extra notes from the author, found at the back of the book, where you get to hear what inspired the story, what they had to work with and how they gave it a literary spin.

Having already enjoyed reading previous war themed books written by Quinn, I was delighted to see a couple of connections, in this book, to the magnificent, Nina from The Huntress. I can happily recommend this to fans of war fiction.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

 

In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son–but Hitler’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper–a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.

Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC–until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

A Harrowing Tale Set in The Netherlands During #WW2. Sherry reviews Over The Hedge By Paulette Mahurin for #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Sherry. She blogs here https://sherryfowlerchancellor.com/

Sherry has been reading Over The Hedge by Paulette Mahurin

This one was hard to read for a number of reasons. The main one, of course, was the brutality of the subject matter. This book was harrowing and, often times, turned the reader’s stomach as to the behavior of human beings who took joy and pleasure in harming other humans. The Nazi regime created many monsters. The one question that will forever haunt me on the atrocities of the acts on Jewish people is, did the regime create these monsters or were so many already lurking in society and they were freed and allowed to run rampant based on there being no consequences (at least during those years when the evil was in power)?

The heroes and heroine of this true to life story were amazing and awe-inspiring. That two of them were Jewish themselves and risked it all to save children is admirable. They didn’t hide away, though who could have blamed them if they had? The fact they survived and made a difference as long as they did was remarkable. Henriette Pimental and Walter Suskind were truly angels on earth for the children they helped to escape and give a chance to live. Johan van Hulst, the professor who started it all, was also a brave man to not sit back and allow innocent lives to be destroyed. It’s terrible that they weren’t able to save more, but those they did save were reward enough. Every life that went on was a victory.

This was a tale that everyone needs to read even though the subject matter is tough.

The two faults I found with the book was it was hard to tell if it was a fictionalized version of facts or if it was a true and accurate telling of the actual events. The tale moved from almost reading like a text book to dialogue and dramatization. In places it was dry and then it would segue to an almost novel-like approach. The cover states it’s a novel, but it was hard to tell by the actual text. The other fault was the paragraph formatting. It may have just been in the ARC copy I have, but the formatting was disjointed throughout. Hanging sentences that joined up after an inserted return all through the copy made it hard to read properly.

I can’t say I enjoyed the book, but it definitely made an impression. The author did a good job in showing the reader just how awful and harrowing the residents of the Netherlands had it in WWII. What a terrible time and place for so many to have to endure. I’m sure it was hard for the author to write as it was definitely hard to read.

During one of the darkest times in history, at the height of the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1943, members of the Dutch resistance began a mission to rescue Jewish children from the deportation center in Amsterdam. Heading the mission were Walter Süskind, a German Jew living in the Netherlands, Henriëtte Pimentel, a Sephardic Jew, and Johan van Hulst, principal of a Christian college. As Nazis rounded up Jewish families at gunpoint, the three discreetly moved children from the deportation center to the daycare across the street and over the backyard hedge to the college next door. From the college, the children were transported to live with Dutch families. Working against irate orders from Hitler to rid the Netherlands of all Jews and increasing Nazi hostilities on the Resistance, the trio worked tirelessly to overcome barriers. Ingenious plans were implemented to remove children’s names from the registry of captured Jews. To sneak them out of the college undetected past guards patrolling the deportation center. To meld them in with their new families to avoid detection. Based on actual events, Over the Hedge is the story of how against escalating Nazi brutality when millions of Jews were disposed of in camps, Walter Süskind, Henriëtte Pimentel, and Johan van Hulst worked heroically with the Dutch resistance to save Jewish children. But it is not just a story of their courageous endeavors. It is a story of the resilience of the human spirit. Of friendship and selfless love. The love that continues on in the hearts of over six hundred Dutch Jewish children.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS